Chapter 1 - High Stakes Game

BUZZZ

A tall, skinny, pale skinned teen with blue eyes and freckles on his face got up from bed, yawning and stretching. He turned off the buzzer to his phone on the side of the bed on the nightstand, and exited his bedroom, patting the blue and white cattle dog, Bob, that greeted him as he made his way to the cramp kitchen.

Sitting at the table was his Mom, Chloe Parker, eating some cereal. She was short and skinny, with some freckles, and long black hair. She always wore a gold, circle pendant necklace around her neck, and she was wearing a white collared shirt, and black pants, ready for work. As she saw the teenager enter the small, cramp brown kitchen, she looked at him and smiled. "Morning Alexander."

The teenager raised his arm lazily and mumbled. "Morning Mum."

After the teenager sat down at the with his bowl of cereal, his mother continued "I might not come home tonight. I plan to grab a drink with my colleagues later on after work."

"Fine."

After finishing his cereal, he made his way to the bedroom, about to change into his school uniform. When he arrived, he checked the time on his mobile to see it was 6:40am.

"That should be plenty of time left" Alexander thought to himself.

He opened a mobile app called Waifu Fighters VII. There was an update last night while he was asleep, and he wanted to see the new skins that always accompanied each update. What he saw had him drooling.

His favorite waifu, the blue eyed and blonde haired Durandal, had a red and white dress that was released, with a slit on the side of the leg, and clung to her curvy figure. And her posture.....Alexander immediately bought the skin with diamonds. He spent five minutes, ogling the anime babe, before looking at some of the other skins.

Eventually, he checked the time at the top of the screen, and started panicking, seeing there was only ten minutes left. He hurriedly rushed to put on his black and red school uniform, and rushed to the bus stop outside the house.

>>>>

Alexander exited the yellow school bus and met up with his buddy Mike. They walked towards the canteen in the school to get a coke as they chatted softly. Mike was slightly chubby, average height male wearing glasses.

"I checked the new update of Waifu Fighters before I got on the bus. You should see Duran..."

A hard shoulder bumped into him from the right side, knocking him into Mike and almost sending them both to the ground. They both straightened up, rubbing their shoulder, as they turned to look at the person who had bumped Alexander. The person was bulky, and had smooth skin, and a chiseled jaw, with blonde hair and blue eyes. It was the Scott, the person who seemed to enjoy making Alex's life miserable.

"Hey weebs, what ya up to?"

Alexander looked downwards. "Nothing."

Scott sneered and took a step towards them, causing Alexander and Mike to take a step back.

"Ohhh really? Cause I thought I heard you losers talking about anime girls again."

"N-no. We w-w-w-where talking about c-c-cars."

"Hahahaha, you here that fellas, these weebs are experts in cars now."

Three people approached Scott from behind, two well built muscular males and a slim, tall, curvy blonde haired female popped up from behind. Alexander's heart could not help sinking as he saw them approach. One of the males started sneering as he approached.

"Ohhh, awesome. The weebs are experts in cars. Tell me, weebs, what sort of car rim model would you recommend buying for my Mazda?"

"Uhhh.....the silver one?"

"Hahahahaha."

As the bullies were mocking Mike and Alexander, a girl walked up to the group from behind Alexander and Mike aggressively. She was petite, wearing a baggy school shirt and shorts, and had her medium long black hair in twintails. She glared at Scott.

"You leave them alone!"

"OOHHH!!! The widdle girl is defending the weebs. "

A snicker broke out from the group before Scott asked.

"Tell me, what will you do if we don't stop."

The twin tailed girl looked firmly at Scott, and said "I will tell the teacher."

A collective burst of laughter burst out of the three bulky teens in response. Scott opened his mouth to retort and a melodious, soft voice cut him off.

"I want to buy some coke from the canteen. If we take too long, I may not have the time to drink it before class begins."

Scott turned his head to the tall, blonde, curvy girl and openly ogled her.

"Sure thing Emily"

They walked off, with Scott in the lead, calling out to the group behind him.

"Later weebs."

The three stood in silence for a moment, before Mike broke the silence.

"Uhhhh.....should we go to the canteen for the Pepsi??"

Alexander shuddered. "Only if you want to run into them again."

The twin tailed girl, Alexandria, turned to look at Alexander and sighed "Why do you keep putting up with that? You should just report them to the teachers."

"Snitching is bad."

"Getting harassed constantly is worse. Seriously, you should just report them."

Alexander shook his head, then decided to change the subject, while leading the way to the seats around the back of a building.

"What did your parents get you for your birthday?"

Alexandria gave Alexander a hard look, but answered the question.

"I got a cute Labrador pup named Susie. She's soooo adorable, and her fur is really smooth and nice to touch.She kept following me around all day, even following me on my jog."

Alexandria flashed Alexander a smile. "By the way, thank you for the gift. The golden pendant is really lovely."

Alexander smiled. "I'm glad you like it. I'm sorry I couldn't come."

>>>

At home, Alexander sat at in front of a wooden desk, staring at his laptop screen blankly, thinking about his economics score. His last essay got him an A-, which was a less then he was hopping for. It was his final year of highschool, and he needed to get a high score to be eligible for a scholarship if he wanted to enter university. He didn't want to work at a retail store for the rest of his life, and work with people like Scott constantly.

Sighing, he thought to himself "How nice would it be if I didn't have to worry about grades, and work."

Eventually, he got up, and picked up a katana lying under his bed, in his room. It had a silver blade, and a black and gold hilt with black fabric covering the hilt to help with the grip, in a black sheath. He bought the katana when he saw it displayed at the front of the camping store, because he thought it looked cool.

After pulling the sword out from under his bed, he went through some Ono-ha Itto-run skills, a habit he had formed to deal with some stress. Eventually, he put the sword away, then spent 3 hours studying, before playing Waifu Fighters VII, then heading to bed.

>>>

A large group of enormous, varied beings, glittering in different colors, were standing motionlessly in a large blue and white swirling room, behind two individuals, on large, gold and black thrones as they verbally wrangled with each other, separated by a pool in the middle showing the cosmos. Eventually, the discussion died down, and the figures cloaked in gold and black light looked at each other intently. A cheerful, brisk voice broke out from the figure cloaked in black "So, are these terms acceptable?"

A crisp voice sounded from the figure cloaked in gold. "They are. "

The cheerful voice resounded in the room once again. "Good. Mizani, please announce the terms."

The area next to the pool in the room started to shimmer, and humanoid figure cloaked in blue and white light appeared, holding a silver page. Looking at it, the humanoid figure read in a formal tone:

"Due to the great deities of Order and Chaos having different ideas on how this cosmos should develop, and of course, that any conflict between the two would result in destroying the cosmos, they have decided to resolve this disagreement in a game. The winner of this game will get the right to choose the next direction this cosmos will take. The rules are as follows:"

"A planet and a species will be chosen by Order. Of the number of inhabitants the species has when the game starts, at least 10% of that number must remain after the game has been concluded, maintaining some level of civilization for Order to win."

"Each side may send five heralds, who must limit their strength to the species involved in the game, and cut off contact with all deities outside of the game. Order and Chaos, or any other deities, may not interfere. The heralds must depart at the same time. The herald's will be kicked if they are 'killed' or exceed the power limit."

"Order and Chaos have the right to communicate once with each herald, for a duration of five minutes throughout the entirety of the game. The communication must take place in full view of the assembled Deities."

"Chaos has the right to send, or create, five disasters for the race. Each disaster must in some way benefit the race in proportion to the amount of harm the disasters would bring. There must be a six month interval, at the very least, before the next disaster is sent."

"The next disaster can only be sent in full view of the assembled Deities."

"After the last disaster is sent, there is a five year interval before the winner is declared. The winner gets the right to decide the next step the cosmos will take."

"If one side breaks the rules, they forfeit the right to decide the next direction the cosmos will take. I, Mizani, will side against the rule breaker to ensure it happens."

A murmur rippled in the room, before dying down. The cheerful voice rippled from the figure cloaked in black.

"So, pick your planet, and I'll pick my disaster. Let's get this party started."